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"We can actually monitor in real time crowd movements, and potentially head off any problems should there be any major issues," Gold Coast Superintendent Paul Ziebarth said.

The coast's new crime fighting helicopter, drug dogs, and random drug and breath testing units will join foot patrols in a crackdown on drugs, alcohol and crime that will target the Surfers Paradise CBD and, for the first time, surrounding suburbs.

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Synthetic drugs will also be a focus for police after pre-schoolies police raids of tobacconists turned up synthetic cannabis and ecstasy in 10 of 12 tobacconists targeted on the Gold Coast this week.

"The strategies we're going to employ build on what some people would call zero tolerance," Supt Ziebarth said.

Up to 20,000 schoolies are expected to descend on Surfers Paradise this year. Photo: Andy Zakeli

Meanwhile Gold Coast tourism chiefs are welcoming the influx of schoolies, which is expected to bring $60 million in revenue over the next two weeks, with NSW and Victorian school leavers arriving next weekend.

They say the tourism industry is warming to schoolies, and some accommodation providers have opened their doors to the teen revellers for the first time.

"The number of properties that we have on our booking website has gone from 85 in Surfers Paradise up to 105 ... in the last three years, and there's not too many new ones (unit buildings) on the Gold Coast now," accommodation website Schoolies.com chief executive Matt Lloyd said.

"Times are tough in tourism at the moment and it's good income at what would otherwise be a pretty quiet time of year."

Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind said the industry, government agencies and the Gold Coast community had learnt a lot about how to manage schoolies over the past few years.

"I would have to say that it's an extremely well organised event," he said, adding that behaviour had "dramatically improved" over the past five years.